Political Insanity: My Investment is Suspended

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Dear Governments of the United States, North Carolina, New Hanover County, and the City of Wilmington,

I am writing to inform you that after careful review of your financial records to date, I have determined that your organizations are not fiscally sustainable in their current configuration. Not only did I not experience gains on my investment as you promised I would, but my principle investment is now gone due to your mismanagement of the funds to which I have contributed. As such, I find it necessary to suspend my investment in your organizations effective immediately and continuing until such time as a viable fiscal plan is presented.

As a former business owner, former home owner, former owner of investment property, and a veteran of the U.S. Military Forces, I find your conduct reprehensible. My own mismanagement of my personal finances led to my having to liquidate my assets and take substantial losses to ensure I could maintain the basic necessities of food, clothing, and shelter. While these actions were not what I wanted and it was not a pleasant process, it was necessary. I am now solvent and living within my means and it only took about a year to get here from the crushing debt I once faced. It was a radical approach to a desperate situation, but it worked. It was the only responsible solution to my situation. Burying my head in the sand and hoping for the best was not an option for me, and it is not an option for you, either.

I recommend that you impartially assess your situation and take some radical actions to pay your astronomical debt in full and stop additional debt from accruing. It is, after all, not your money to spend. Perhaps some new people on your teams who understand how desperately some radical changes are needed will be just the thing to turn your situation around. I am on my way to my appointed voting location right now to see what I can do about getting you some help with fresh ideas.

I am certain of one thing: necessity is the mother of all invention. Given the opportunity to keep the vast majority of my paycheck in my wallet, I can and will make decisions for myself that will meet my needs. I will find a doctor who will accept cash or barter to help me get well when I am ill; I don’t need your national healthcare program. I will find ways to earn enough money to sustain myself, even if I lose my current job; I will simply look at all the opportunities and find a new niche for myself. I will treat my neighbors with respect and take personal responsibility, as I have done all my life, and will rarely if ever need the assistance of the police or attorneys or the courts; that will free them up to deal with more serious issues. I will help my daughter educate my grandson by networking with others, pooling our respective knowledge to ensure the best possible primary education for him without need for your broken public school system. I will make dinner for the family of the mechanic who changes the oil in my car when I am low on cash. In short, I will figure it out.

Your job is to provide for the defense of our nation and safety of our town, the enforcement of existing laws, and to ensure we have the means to get where we are going (roads, railways, shipping channels, etc) as we conduct the business that sustains our nation’s workforce. I am happy to help pay for all those things. It is not your job to run the businesses that fuel our economy or to tell the business owners how to do it; it is your job to pave the way for people to do it themselves.

Let me keep the money in my pocket and leave me to my own devices. I’m betting I can do a far better job of taking care of myself and those in need in my community than you have.